Carolina Built by Kianna Alexander

 Carolina Built reimagines the fascinating life of a real estate magnate Josephine N. Leary. After emancipation in North Carolina, she builds a stunning legacy through her passion and perseverance.

North Carolina. In 1873, Josephine buys her first property, when opportunity presents, and because her mother and grandmother never had the right, or the funds, to make such a purchase. She studies the transactions of the biggest landowners in Manhattan. As she works along her husband at barbershop and their family expends, she continues to observe and study those who gain properties. She even attends a few auctions to see her competition in her area. She wants her portfolio to be as robust with a mixture of property types as the ones she studies.

The memory of free will being stripped from one is still fresh. She doesn’t want to live at the whim of another white man. Thus, she starts flipping from renting to buying the properties with carefully saved money.

Her interests extend to attending conventions involving talks about temperance and suffrage. She doesn’t like her husband spending money on liquor and cares about education for all women. Her ambition may not be understood by some, but that doesn’t stop her from progressing.

Her path crosses many challenges: as a woman sometimes not even being acknowledged by her own husband as a business partner, being a black woman and competing with white men in real estate, balancing everyday life and progressing her aspirations.

Written with depth and strong convictions, this story brings an unconventional woman whose struggles feel very real. This linear story of Josephine is interestingly presented. However, the story of her progression in real estate is more on a fringe.

Release date: 22 February 22

Source: Gallery Books; Simon & Schuster